By Abi S, Year 13

On Thursday, the Chamber Choir took a trip to Oxford to perform Britten’s Ceremony of Carols as well as a collection of choral favourites.

We started the day with a tour around St Edmund Hall with the musical director Carlos Rodríguez Otero. Next we had the opportunity to workshop some of our concert pieces with Carlos in the beautiful college chapel. Through his infectious enthusiasm, Carlos managed to transform our performance of Mendelssohn’s Abendlied to stage ready as well as having fun the whole time.

We then performed our concert in St Mary Magdalene Church where we were accompanied by professional harpist Eleanor Medcalf and enjoyed an organ interlude from Kat, one of our Year 11 music scholars. After enjoying a particularly brisk walk through the streets of rainy Oxford, we were able to watch Merton College’s evensong. The service consisted of a beautiful anthem, canticles and responses which gave the chamber choir a taste of the English choral tradition and its pieces.

Overall, the trip was a great success, with rewarding and fun opportunities for the choir.